So, I am sure this will be talked about in Force and Destiny when that comes out, but I wanted to give my take on a few various Lightsabers. I know other people have posted some stuff about them, but I just want your opinions.

it seems weird to put the defensive quality on an item that you can't use to block with, except for other lightsabers. Should that quality be situational?

I was thinking it is possible to get Cortosis weapons, etc, which are not affected by Lightsabers, [i think thats right?] I was thinking more along the lines of Saber vs Saber to be honest. My players want very much to be jedi and all, and while I know the game is not centered on this at all, I am trying to accommodate them as best I can. As for it being situational..I dunno. I wasn't really sure as to what I was doing with making these. The Tonfa style made me think of more of a sword and board style of fighting. Sword in Main Hand, Shield in Off-hand.

it seems weird to put the defensive quality on an item that you can't use to block with, except for other lightsabers. Should that quality be situational?

It can have defensive because no one wants to get close enough to lose an arm! So it's less "defensive" and more "what body part can you live without?"

-EF

First change i'd suggest making is drop the Hard Point from each and every one of these. The basic lightsaber in both the EotE and AoR core rulebooks has zero Hard Points, so I don't see a justification for why these variants should now suddenly have a Hard Point. They also should be Crit 1, again same as the base lightsaber in both core rulebooks.

Double-Bladed Lightsaber:

Lower the damage to 10, and replace Deflection 2 with Defensive 2. That or have Defensive 1, but provide some minor benefit (free Advantage perhaps?) when attacking with both ends via the dual-wielding rules. While adding Linked 1 is a possibility, that limits the attacker to just one target, and could mean instant defeat for most adversaries (or PCs) given the Breach 1 quality.

Light-Tonfa aka Guard Shoto (the later is what it's actually called):

No issues other than the general ones cited above.

Light-Whip:

Stick with Breach 1, or change it to Pierce 5, particularly with Lumiya's classic version, which was really more along the lines of an energized length of metal cable. If going with the more recent "unrealistically flexible energy blade), then use Breach 1. These things do tend to have a greater reach than a typical melee weapon, but I've yet to see a really satisfying way to replicate that. You could possibly give it a Range of Short instead of Engaged that melee weapons have by default. I'd also suggest dropping Deflection, as there's really nothing about the lightwhip that says it's inherently better than a standard lightsaber at deflecting ranged attacks; if anything I'd imagine it'd be worse at doing so given the not-quite-predictable way that a whip moves when used in combat.

Wrist-Saber:
Odd idea, but neat. Given the vastly lowered damage and increased price in comparison to a standard lightsaber, you could probably get away with adding text similar to the hold-out blaster's in regards to ease of being concealed.

Thank you very much for your input Donovan! The only reason any of these even have a HP is cause I have a house rule for my games that you can at least do 1 thing to something, no matter what. Hence why my one player as a 'Dubstep' Saber. XD I also thought that maybe the Crit of 2 would counter balance some of the added bonuses I was giving these weapons. In regards to the Double-bladed saber, I agree with the Linked 1 idea and lowering the damage a bit, I gave it the deflective quality because I was thinking if it was spun around it could deflect better then if you tried to just block each one individually. I think I am going to change the whip to just Pierce 5 instead of Breach 1. I think that is a wise move.

I disagree with Dono about the hard points though the lack of applicable mods sorta negates my perspective. But honestly, I also think it doesn't matter. We're less then a month away from GenCon, and the beta drop, so if you just stick it out you'll know for realsies soon enough.

Really? The beta will be out soon? Cool..

Yep, like... 14th of Aug I think. No official announcement that I know of, but last 2 betas launched at GenCon, and a couple months back Sam went on the O66 Podcast and said they were in their preGenCon push. Doesn't take a rocket scientist.

So who knows what will and won't be in there, but at the very least it'll give you a better basis for comparison.

Makes sense to me. Until then, however, I think I'm still going to tweek these. My players are very..open.. about this game, and are prone to ...obtaining... property, credits, items, etc.

Makes sense to me. Until then, however, I think I'm still going to tweek these. My players are very..open.. about this game, and are prone to ...obtaining... property, credits, items, etc.

Just let em know that things might change a smidge in a few weeks and I think you'll be fine. Nerfs/Buffs are easier to accept if you know they are coming and coming from an experienced source.

Right on! I did take into consideration the tips and all from this. Maybe I should edit the first post..

Thank you very much for your input Donovan! The only reason any of these even have a HP is cause I have a house rule for my games that you can at least do 1 thing to something, no matter what. Hence why my one player as a 'Dubstep' Saber.

So, a couple of comments.

First, if all they were doing was having their saber play dubstep every time it activates, I wouldn’t be inclined to require the item have a Hard Point to do that. That seems to me to be a narrative effect that is small enough the GM can just decide to allow that — for a suitable application of credits, food or beer for the GM, or whatever you rule is appropriate.

Second, there is a talent that allows you to add a Hard Point to weapons, etc…. So, the basic weapon could have zero hard points, but if someone wants it badly enough, they could add a hard point to it.

IMO, the best thing about this game is the fact that the rules are intended to be guidelines and the GM is encouraged to do things in a more narrative manner.

So, you should do whatever you think works best for your game, but personally I feel like you might be over-thinking the hard point mechanic.

Well, in my thought process, I was trying to justify how to make it happen.. and the only way I could think of was to hook a speaker like object to the hilt of the saber, and have the wiring be tied to the on/off switch. As there aren't any mods that would actually work with a Lightsaber [as far as I kniow..?] I figured that it made sense, at least in my head to do it this way, but I appreciate your thoughts on the subject.

I have to agree with bradknowles.

The Hard Point system, based on the EotE and AoR core rulebooks, is there to let players add attachments that have direct and generally positive influence on how effective the weapon is in combat.

So something like a dubstep generator could just be a feature of that one player's particular lightsaber, something that's ultimately just a narrative effect with little to no combat benefit. I wouldn't force a player to spend a Hard Point to gain something like that. Heck, I'd probably just ask for an Average (maybe Hard in the case of a lightsaber) Mechanics check to add something like a small sound device with a mini-speaker to a weapon, such as the afore-mentioned dubstep generator or having a heavy blaster pistol sporting a device that plays the chorus from the Star Wars equivalent of "Another One Bites The Dust" every time the trigger is pulled, or having a vibro-ax that actually makes chain-saw noises.

Generally I wouldn't either, but since there is nothing for a lightsaber, It's whatever anyway.

I want a blaster that plays, "Another one bites the dust," now!

I want a blaster that plays, "Another one bites the dust," now!

You're welcome

Generally I wouldn't either, but since there is nothing for a lightsaber, It's whatever anyway.

Actually there's the Superior Weapon Customization attachment, which grants a +1 to damage and a free Advantage on every check made using the weapon, and has zero restrictions as to what weapons it can be applied to.

There was a lot of talk during the EotE Beta of how awesome that weapon attachment would be for a lightsaber given the weapon's low Crit Rating, making it far more likely that the attacker will be able to trigger a critical injury on the target.

Oh yeah, there is that. It is what it is. A bit off-topic, but I appreciate the input.

Oh yeah, there is that. It is what it is. A bit off-topic, but I appreciate the input.

Not really off-topic, since it's a rebuttal of your earlier statement of "whatever, not like there's any good attachments for lightsabers anyway."

Sorry, but it's really not a trivial concern that your houserule to allow a purely fluff item now opens up the ability to tack on a very potent weapon attachment to what are already some very potent weapons.

I don't mean to come off "Matter of fact" - like? I do apologize for that, cause I really do appreciate your input on the matter. The potential here just isn't a huge concern for me until I use it against them. XD

Considering the fact that I have a player whose gun does 15 Damage, Pierces 5, Auto - Fires at Long range so many times per round in combat that I had to enforce the Rambo rule. [Can only auto-fire for as much brawn as you have] The Lightsaber getting to 11 Damage to start and auto-generating 1 advantage, when they can't get any Proficiency dice in said skill, while a concern, Is not an immediate threat to my operatioins.

Plus they need to move into Engaged range to use it limits it further. Granted I expect it to get a crit from the start regardless of having the automatic one or not, due to its 1 Crit nature, which is part of the reason I made all of these have at least a Crit of 2. Which seems unfair in the long run since why would you want the one with the weaker crit rating if it does the same damage and costs more?

The Combat oriented team I run does as much damage if not more then the Lightsaber can dish out on their own. Their view on a lightsaber is "Something I can cut into a starship with? Why can't my blaster do that? I made this BFG to take ANYTHING!" , these were made for my more non-combat group whose best shot is 1Y 2G, with a max wound threshold of 12.